


The Horrifying Truth

by KatsukkyKitsune



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Denial, Family, MembraneIsTryingToBeAGoodDad, WhyMembraneDoesn'tBelieveInAliens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24422515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatsukkyKitsune/pseuds/KatsukkyKitsune
Summary: A one-shot I created after watching the movie that explains why Membrane is so adamant in the inexistence of aliens, or the paranormal even.If you ended up liking my theory as, at least in my head, it makes a lot of sense feel free to use it in your own Zim fanfictions as I would love to see it while reading new fics.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	The Horrifying Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is a small one-shot I did to try and explain why Membrane is so adamant about the inexistence of anything even slightly related to the paranormal and I am very proud of it. If you are an author and end up liking my idea you're more than welcome to use it in your own fanfics as I think it would be a great explanation and something you can use to grow Membrane's character to maybe accept it and even learn that just because that's true it doesn't mean he can't have his own choices in life, maybe even using it in his own growth.
> 
> As you can imagine this fic is more focused on Membrane but the basic main cast is here too.
> 
> Well, that's what I have to say, there's nothing much on this fic, maybe just a small character breakdown to the end but that is as bad as it gets.
> 
> Well... I hope you enjoy it!

The evening sky is always a beautiful sight that can be often underappreciated as it is something magnificent that does not require an exacerbating price to be seen, just asking for a few minutes of someone's day. Sadly, nowadays, what is asked is commonly mistaken as a price that cannot be paid as people tend to believe that they have better things to do while using their time.

Today the extravagant crimson and gold colours of the clear sky were hidden behind dark and heavy clouds -fully charged with thunders ready to strike at any given moment. The pouring rain was the biggest concern of the citizens below as the gigantic clouds dropped its contents without any concern. Quickly and smoothly washing the dirty streets and alleys while giving fresh and clean air for its citizens to breathe with relative ease. Restarting the cycle that keeps those ungrateful souls alive.

**...**

A black car skillfully stopped from full speed in front of a two-story house. The car turned its lights and engines off and, as quickly as it died, the heavy door from the front seat unlocked and opened. Hefty footsteps could be heard quickly splashing their way to the front door, keys clanked against each other as the tall man attempted to unlock the door while trying -and failing, to avoid getting any more soaked.

Finally, the door opened and the high volume of the living room TV could clearly be heard, it was more than obvious that a violent game was currently being displayed. A blast of hot air from the house heaters managed to find its way to the man's face as he walked inside, fastly closing the door and stopping the pouring rain from following him in.

"Oh Hello Gaz. How was your day?" Membrane asked his daughter while he quickly removed his soggy coat, giving it to an extended robotic arm that appeared from the wall.

"Hi, dad. It was fine, I guess" Gaz answered slowly and uninterestedly while she was trying to focus at the last phase of her rather gory game.

"Good. And your brother is...?" The scientist dragged the question. He grabbed his now dry lab coat and changed his boots with dry ones being offered to him by robotic arms on the floor.

"At Zim's again, I guess..." Gaz answered while using her peripheral vision to see her dad's reaction.

Professor Membrane sighed and walked to the kitchen, quickly grabbing a super toast and fastly moving to sit by his daughter's side. Gaz saved and closed her game, a little irritated that she didn't manage to finish the last phase with that stupid boss. She changed the TV to the news channel that was blabbing about a small part of a nearby ocean turning coal-black for some seconds today with the number of pollutants from industries or some BS like that.

"And how was your day dad?" She asked, somewhat curious as to why her father was using his precious time to sit by her side. But hiding her curiosity with a very well trained poker face.

"It was a rather good day. Do you remember Michael?" As Gaz nodded, not exactly remembering the guy but wanting to hear about it, her father continued. "I finally convinced the poor man that his idea was crazy! How could a scientist like him think that Robo-squids could ever work?! Ha! You should have seen that men's face! He was so shocked and…" By then Gaz started grunting while nodding her head as her dad told her every. Single. Encounter. He. Ever. Had. With that Michael guy.

She then decided to get her portable Game Slave out and started playing, Dib surely got his rambling from their dad.

**...**

It was another victorious victory for Dib Membrane! Paranormal investigator, Earth saviour and last line of defence against Zim and his evil plans for the annihilation of the world!

Today he managed to stop Zim from dumping Robo-squids into the ocean; skillfully foiling Zim's plan of controlling them into releasing black ink and making the water so dark that the humans would stop drinking it! Thus dehydrating to death! It was a devilish, diabolical, plan! But Dib was there to stop it! Saving The Earth once again from its biggest threat!

The teen was slowly -but victoriously, walking back home. He was rather tired from his tirade and soaked with a mixture of dark ink and seawater. Not even the pouring rain was able to clean him from that Super Evil Irken ink! Not to mention the extremely stingy scratches he obtained from a hand to hand struggle with Zim towards the end of their EPIC battle for the fate of the world!

Dib tiredly walked to the front door and tried to open it but upon seeing that it was locked he searched his pockets just to realize that he had no keys. Annnd his pocket had a huge hole in it... Sighing, and freezing from the pouring rain, he started banging on the door while wishing to every entity that his little sister would be in the mood to open it, not having a crazy reason to put some kind of revenge on him for something he couldn't even remember doing...

When he heard the door unlocking his heart jumped, today was surely his lucky day! He defeated Zim AND Gaz was opening the front door without even shouting at him for it!

But when the door opened he was greeted with something he didn't want to see. Professor Membrane...

More known as his _dad…_

"Hello, son!" Membrane greeted him cheerfully, but his smile softly turned into a small frown when he saw Dib's condition. "What happened?" The scientist asked slightly concerned.

"Nothing dad" Dib answered quietly… Over the years, as Dib grew on, his father started to notice more and more on his errands and subsequential wounds, as if the scientist was finally accepting that at least his injures were real. But Dib still wasn't over the fact that his dad would vouch for his **life** that the paranormal was not real, so the attention was often not welcomed.

Dib just couldn't believe that Membrane almost died during the Florpus incident and many others that soon followed! Not daring to keep on track how much his father got involved during those past years. And even though Dib, the son of that crazy maniac, had all the proof one would ask in the garage the scientist would still deny to the end of existence that alien life, or anything slightly paranormal, was even remotely possible!

"Now now son. This is no way to talk to your father" Membrane politely tried to educate his son while prying for an answer from him, putting his gloved hands on his son's shoulders and looking at his eyes. "Now tell me" The Professor said with a straight face.

"You wouldn't BELIEVE it anyway. So why should I talk!?" Dib spat while brutally moving away from his dad's gloved hands.

"Son…" The scientist said while his poor insane son was walking past him. He couldn't understand why Dib was acting this way towards him, he tried being understanding, caring, friendly and even polite with him! But nothing seemed to work! Dib would just go on and on about his foreign friend -that green-skinned boy, and then would talk about all that nonsense of ghosts and bigfeet and the… Paranormal… Membrane internally shuddered.

The father helplessly stood there while his son, once again, stomped away. He, the smartest being in the universe, just stood there not having a clue about what the proper reaction should be.

"DIB!" Gaz screamed, swiftly managing to get the attention of both males. A curious one, and a scared one.

" _Yes…?_ " The boy that seemed to have instantly lost all his anger and confidence tentatively turned his head towards his little sister.

"You will COME here so you AND dad can talk this over" When none moved she resorted to screaming her command. "NOW!" With this she left no room for anyone to question her order.

Soon enough son and dad were sitting at each of the far ends of the couch while awkwardly looking everywhere else but the other.

"I will go upstairs. If this is not solved when I come down…" She approached Dib shaking her fist threateningly. "You will pay!" With this the scary girl finally left the room, leaving behind her cold and threatening promise in the air.

"Ahem" Membrane clears his throat. "I don't remember raising Gaz to be that… _Impolite…_ " The scientist tries to lift the mood, but he fails miserably at it.

"Well, you didn't raise me to be a paranormal investigator. See where that brought us to..." The teen simply retorted.

Membrane started sweating cold while Dib was shaking on the inside. He doesn't want Gaz to take revenge on him but he can't simply forgive his dad for almost dying every time he has a clash with aliens or something!

What if he nor Gaz are there to help him!? What would have happened were they not there to rescue him from that space prison? What if something like that happens again and they don't manage to find out where he was taken to?!

The teen started shaking while trying to hold his tears as his deepest fears decided to hunt his mind in their worst moment possible.

" _Damit Gaz, why couldn't you leave me be!?_ " Dib mumbled under his breath.

Membrane sees his son's sudden change in behaviour but he doesn't know what is the correct approach, chemical formulas are so much easier to handle! Even volatile ones! As Dib, his own flesh and blood, started shaking, the scientist couldn't stop his natural feeling -or rather, need to do something. Without thinking too much about it (as Gaz said), Membrane approached his son that was too focused mumbling to notice it.

As dad hugged son for the first time in over a decade Dib suddenly stopped shaking, his mind went completely blank.

"Dib…" Membrane starts gently and cautiously while looking at his son's bright caramel eyes. "I'm unable to figure out why you're acting this way towards me. And I would like to use this opportunity Gaz gave me to set things straight with you. I'm your dad and I want you to know that I will always. Always. Be here for you, no matter what"

"And what if you can't be here for me?" The teen asks avoiding his father's caring eyes.

"What do you mean by that? I AM here."

"No! You don't understand!" Dib looks at Membrane with fierce eyes. "What if something happens to you and you're not here! What if you get taken away and I can't save you! What if you leave us FOREVER?! Then WHAT SHOULD I SUPPOSEDLY DO?!" The teen gets up suddenly breaking the close contact he so wished to have with his dad to look straight down at his eyes.

"Dad I'm not a scientist like you! I'm not even near as smart as you are! And I don't know what I should do if you're not here to set things straight! Because when I fail. I fail hard. And if you're not around to fix things…" Dib couldn't continue holding back his tears of anger, frustration and sadness.

Membrane gets up, tenderly looking at his son. "Then what son…?"

"Then the WHOLE PLANET will suffer the consequences!" Dib says it in one big spat while taking a step back.

"What do you mean by that...?" Membrane takes one step forward.

"The ALIENS… Dad? The ones I always tell you about?! They'll destroy everything! Everything we love, everything we are… If you're not there when I fail… Then… Then no one else will. And I'll fail the world… I just. I can't do this anymore… The pressure... The scars... The Insanity… I just, I can't, but if I'm not there. Then… Then no one else will be… And we will all be doomed…" Dib shakes while standing, his mind unable to create coherent thoughts with all the pressure that came down on him, making his speech broken and difficult to understand. The teen tries with all his might to hold back the bad feelings that are mixed up with both true and false memories of lives he had had, and, at the same time, never had.

Membrane quickly approached his son, gently holding his shoulders as if he was trying to give the support the teen so desperately needed to overcome his fears. "Son…" The father starts softly, obtaining the sole focus of his desperate teenage son. "There are no aliens out there. There's nothing to be afraid of" The scientist monotonously and mechanically gives his son the same answer that started this whole mess with a heavy-weight in his chest.

Dib hatefully gazed at his dad. " _Why…_ " Dib grumbled under his breath while pushing away from Membrane.

"Can you say that again son? I didn't quite catch that" Membrane leans over to hear what Dib has to say.

"WHY CAN'T YOU **SEE!** I SHOWED YOU EVERY SINGLE PROOF I HAD! I GAVE YOU A **FUCKING SPACESHIP.** A. FUCKING. WORKING. AND. FLYING. SPACESHIP! AND YOU STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IN ME?! TELL ME WHY IN THE HELL YOU CAN'T SEE THE TRUTH?!" Dib exploded at his dad. He didn't mean to do that but all the suppressed feelings he has been hiding for longer than what he could remember reached the surface in a sudden explosion.

Meanwhile, the professor was shocked -for lack of a better word, when that happened. It was the first time Dib exploded like that. Yes, it was common to see him readying his arm to hit someone just to decide otherwise and storming off while kicking and, sometimes, cursing. But this? This full-blown explosion was different. He exploded with words and Membrane was not used to it. He just didn't know what to do anymore...

"I'm going to go to my room now" Dib softly growled while removing himself from his mouth-gaping dad's sight. He silently, but quickly, made his way to the stairs, hearing his sister's door quietly closing, but not really registering it in his mind.

**...**

Gaz overheard the whole talk and she couldn't agree more with her brother.

It would be easier to fix Dib's screw-ups if their dad finally accepted that aliens existed as he would know, as well as she does, that Zim is too much of an incompetent to destroy the planet for real. Being able to go further than her on predicting what the annoying alien would plan as to decide if they should intervene in the little stunts that that green bug managed to create.

But, for some reason, her dad simply can't see the truth and, opposed to her brother, she knew that Membrane has a goddamn good excuse to give that big of a blind eye on what Zim was doing.

So, she skilfully went to her computer and started things up. She had a boss to defeat.

**...**

While Gaz was playing and Dib was fuming Membrane was simply sitting on the couch. He thought hard about what his son told him and, after some minutes, the scientist finally decided to get up and go to his home-lab. He needs to do some experiments and improvements on some gadgets and chemicals he was recently working on.

Professor Membrane entered his personal lab and started looking for the tools and files he would be needing. He has the habit of writing down -on paper, things that no other human eye should see: deathly formulas that could potentially kill the entire planet, war machines that were too dangerous to be used by the wrong hands, those types of things. Some of them he couldn't even trust his own family with, let alone the country.

While searching for the papers and schematics he came for Membrane wandered into an older part of his home lab, he searched inside some old drawers and finally, after a rather long search period (of ten minutes, but who's counting?) he found the papers he needed for a formula that could, theoretically, end the pollution in the human environment. He needs to work more on those types of projects to guarantee the future for his children…

As the scientist took the papers out he found another one that looked way older and torn out. Probably from a time not too far away from his university days, when that strange hallucination occurred to him when he drank too much beer in the final year...

He will never touch that devilish beverage again…

As Membrane started to pull the papers out he accidentally read the big red writing on the older and long-forgotten paper.

He instantly recognized the calculations and probabilities contained in there, seeing the fading 99.99998% chance of existence and, soon after, the big red _100%_ circled numerous times by a blood-red pen: a direct consequence if the first one was true.

The scientist didn't waste any time on wrinkling said paper to nothing and throwing it inside the old drawer.

No use in false theories created by hallucinations.

"My poor insane son… _And my poor insane self..._ " Membrane mumbled while quickly and swiftly walking away. Without having the nerve, nor sanity, to look back.

The small paper that was long forgotten was everything Membrane needed to see to have a boost on his willingness to negate alien life. Even if this means ruining his relationship with his son. Because, after all, something **THAT** horrifying couldn't possibly be real

Right?

**...**

Dib and Gaz were each at their own bedrooms, the first still fuming over the fight while checking his computer for any movements on his oldest obsession, and biggest nemesis. And the other playing her full-on gore game, killing every enemy on sight with a brand new weapon gained from defeating the last boss under two minutes.

Both heard an explosion coming from downstairs, nothing too out of place in that strange household, but still concerning as they knew some of the rather… Unsafe… Chemicals and materials down in the basement. But again, soon after the explosions, there was always a shout not to worry.

Which was taking its sweet time to come...

One of them decided to check on it while the other decided that there was no need for it.

**...**

Professor Membrane managed to cut himself when his mechanical hand managed to lose the grip of a glass flask that contained a compound he was working on. The flask fell to the floor causing a small explosion that sent small shards of glass at the scientist's face, one accurately managing to cut into his forehead, right on top of his right eye. The blood was starting to reach his goggles.

He then noticed that he was shaking.

Long ago Membrane reached the conclusion that if aliens, or the paranormal even, really existed everything in that 'fake' universe of theirs was the creation of some twisted mind. Existing solely on the purpose of entertaining the ones that lived on that other 'true' universe. And that would lead to the fact that they're not even real! Everything Membrane fights lives and breathes for would be... A lie... A filthy, disgusting and disturbing **LIE.** And he would be just one more puppet at the hands of some twisted mind that liked playing God.

So, no. That can't be real. Because aliens Aren't REAL.

Yes. That's it. That's the truth.

Nothing, and no one,

will say to him otherwise.

Because, after all,

it is not

Re-

"DAD! I heard an explosion! Do I have to come down?" Membrane got away from his disturbing thoughts when he heard his daughter screaming from her bedroom.

"No honey! I'm fine!" He screamed back and started to clean his own mess. He should probably go back to his lab now... Yeah... That will be more productive.

At the exact time Membrane finished cleaning his home lab he almost ran outside to his car in the middle of the storm and started it. Not even bothering that he was soaked, again.

**...**

After driving for an hour or so he reached the enormous facility that the Membrane Labs was; shining like a sole star in the dark of the night. The storm had, by now, calmed down to a brief rain.

"Back so soon sir? I thought you would be staying home for a few hours at least" The night guard asked. Everyone knew about Membrane's workaholic tendencies and, while no one would dare try going against his wishes, everyone would gently ask questions while trying to remember him that he -indeed, had a family.

"Why, yes! I HAD to come back sooner than expected to do some… Eh… Scientistic... Stuff… That's right!" With that Membrane started a nervous and lousy laugh.

The guard shrugged and gave his boss's bosses, and some more, bosses the green card to go. Membrane drove all the way to the facility where the newer scientists would work in, he needed to calm down his nerves and there was nothing better for it than fixing the easy rookie mistakes those scientists would commonly do.

The black and extremely modern car quickly drove its way through the light rain, following the same path it often takes the insides of that beast of a complex.

That modified vehicle carried a man that had no time to spare with theories that could not _possibly_ be true, let alone time to spend with his kids.

So how would a man so focused on bettering the planet have time to watch the sunset? That's just a natural occurrence that requires no further observation in the end.

The car sped up, quickly closing in on its objective...


End file.
